Performance evaluation of a completely stirred anaerobic reactor treating pig manure at a low range of mesophilic conditions.

Many Chinese biogas plants run in the lower range of mesophilic conditions. This study evaluated the performance of a completely stirred anaerobic reactor treating pig manure at different temperatures (20, 28 and 38°C). The start-up phase of the reactor at 20°C was very long and extremely poor performance was observed with increasing organic loading rate (OLR). At an OLR of 4.3g ODML(-1)d(-1), methane production at 28°C was comparable (3% less) with that at 38°C, but the risk of acidification was high at 28°C. At low OLR (1.3g ODML(-1)d(-1)), the biogas process appeared stable at 28°C and gave same methane yields as compared to the reactor operating at 38°C. The estimated sludge yield at 28°C was 0.065g VSSg(-1) CODremoved, which was higher than that at 38°C (0.016g VSSg(-1) CODremoved).